The effectiveness of dramatic puppet and therapeutic play in anxiety reduction in children undergoing surgery : a randomized clinical trial

Abstract EN

Background : Surgery as a stressful experience can affect the child and quality of care plan.

Nurses can use non-pharmacological intervention to reduce anxiety and help children cope with this stress.

Objectives : This study was designed to compare the effects of dramatic puppet and therapeutic play on anxiety of children undergoing surgery.

Methods : In this randomized clinical trial, 75 children were divided into three groups (dramatic puppet, therapeutic play, and control) using a simple random allocation method.

The study was conducted in Iran in 2013 - 2014.

The revised children’s manifest anxiety scale (RCMAS) was used to determine the anxiety of children.

The data were analyzed using paired t-test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Tukey test.

Results : The findings revealed that the changes of anxiety scores after the intervention were significantly different among the three groups (P < 0.001), so that the anxiety scores decreased in both the intervention groups (puppet and play) and increased in the control group.

Conclusions : Therapeutic play and dramatic puppet can be used by nurses as a care strategy and effective preoperative preparation intervention to reduce anxiety in children undergoing surgery.

-